not a phase // l.h. au

one ♛

it's finally here, my very first day of senior year. my high school career is merely one year away from its closing, which - although quite terrifying - is more than exciting. i've been working hard for the past three years to be the best possible student while also enjoying my time here at west point high school. with a solid 3.9 gpa and countless hours of community service and extracurricular activities, i'm pretty much set to be accepted my dream school - stanford university. but i'm not taking any chances by slacking off during my senior year, oh no. instead, i'm planning on working extra hard in order to prove myself to the admissions department of the university. nothing is going to get in my way.

after curling my hair into loose ringlets, applying a bit of makeup, and putting on the cute, yet conservative, outfit that i had chosen a month in advance, i grab a blueberry muffin from the pantry and head outside to my car. i don't want to be late, so i decided to just eat my breakfast on the way to school. when i open the driver's side door to my red mercedes that i've had since my sixteenth birthday, i am nearly startled out of my own skin to see a girl sitting in the passenger seat, and i let out a small scream.

"kiara, you scared the crap out of me!" i squeal when i see that it's my best friend and neighbor since first grade, kiara jacobs, who is now laughing hysterically. climbing into the car, i can feel my cheeks getting pink. even as i turn the key and start driving in the direction of our high school, she is still laughing with both of her hands placed on her stomach. i don't think nearly giving me a heart attack is very funny, but i let her continue. eventually, she is able to get out a few words in between laughs.

"i walked over...too early and...you left...your...car unlocked so...i got in!"

i just roll my eyes, and say, "you could've come inside. would've saved a lot of trouble." she stops laughing when she hears my serious tone.

"lighten up, hailee. i was just trying to be fun," she says with a pouty face, lightly nudging my shoulder with her elbow. i didn't care really. i was used to this kind of behavior by now. i'm pretty quiet and calm, and she is my more exciting and outgoing other half. kiara and i had been through so much together since grade school, and i don't think anything could actually damage our friendship at this point. plus, we have wanted to go to stanford and dorm together since eight grade.

"it's whatever."

after a few moments of silence, kiara lights up with excitement again.

"are you excited to meet all of the new kids from east point?!" she nearly shouts, looking at me eagerly.

"what do you mean?" i'm genuinely confused now. east point was the high school in the next town over.

"didn't you read the school newsletter at all over the summer?" i shake my head - honestly i've been reading stanford newsletters more often than high school ones. "i'm surprised! normally you would know about school news like this, hailee. east point was getting overcrowded, so they transferred, like, two hundred kids from there to west point!"

my mouth literally falls open. west point high school, my virtual home for the past three years, is in a small, fairly wealthy - or as others may refer to it, "snobby" - town in new york called deercliff. there are only about six hundred students enrolled in the entire school, so everybody pretty much knows everybody else. it's actually really nice because for the most part, everyone gets along with eachother and there usually isn't much drama. east point is exactly the opposite. in a large town called overbrook (directly to the east of deercliff), the school probably has over two thousand students in total. from what i've heard, the place is an absolute madhouse. daily fist fights, drugs, teen pregnancy, stealing - you name it. plus, our two schools are complete rivals when it comes to competition and sports. the last thing i wanted for my senior year was drama, but it looks like i'll just have to see how it goes.